We have many passages in God’s word that speak to us of God’s great love, yet I do not believe we come even close to comprehending what that means. Consider this: In the beginning, before there was any creation, there was just God, only God, an infinite and mighty Lord. And God had an idea. It was just an idea, but as only God can do, He can look at an idea from every perspective imaginable and see every conceivable outcome. He can look at every individual possibility and understand all the millions of possibilities and outcomes emanating from that idea, and He can do so instantaneously. God had a thought, and that thought was, “I will create.” He envisioned all that He would do, and He knew it would be good . . . but He also knew that out of that goodness His ultimate creation, mankind, would choose the pathway of sin and death.
That was not such a good idea. What was He to do? Should God just forget the whole idea and chuck it all? Would that not be the best thing possible?
The Son, Who existed with God from eternity, saw the same idea of creation with all of its infinite possibilities because He shared that idea with His Father. And He looked at the idea and said: “I can rectify it. I can perfect that idea. I can make that love perfect. I can become part of it. You breathed Your Spirit into man and created Him in our image, so I will become a man in his image. I will live my life in a manner that will turn every sin into a virtue. I will become a fragrant offering and a sweet-smelling sacrifice to You. I will bear this willingly because of My love for You and Your love for Me and Our mutual love for Our creation.”
It was not an accident that Jesus came to the Earth and gave Himself to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2). When He was with the Father before creation He knew what would happen, and what He would be asked to do. He knew. Although He, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, He knew the time would come when He would be called upon to empty Himself, and take upon the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are. And being in every way like a human being, He was humbler yet, even to accepting death, a death suffered cruelly upon a cross (Philippians 2:6-8). And still He did not succumb to sin, although He was tempted in all manner of temptations as we are, yet He committed no sin (Hebrews 4:15). And so God saw the idea with His Son being intimately involved in it, and He was ready to let the idea happen. All He had to do was utter the word. All He had to do was say the word and there would be a universe. He had to just speak the word and there would be myriads of stars, countless planets, and billions of galaxies stretching across trillions of miles of space. All God had to do was say the word and there would be Earth and there would be land and water and animals of all kinds. All He had to do was say the word and there would be man. And God was ready. And He said the Word and the Word God said was: Jesus. And it all happened because of God's love.
That was not such a good idea. What was He to do? Should God just forget the whole idea and chuck it all? Would that not be the best thing possible?
The Son, Who existed with God from eternity, saw the same idea of creation with all of its infinite possibilities because He shared that idea with His Father. And He looked at the idea and said: “I can rectify it. I can perfect that idea. I can make that love perfect. I can become part of it. You breathed Your Spirit into man and created Him in our image, so I will become a man in his image. I will live my life in a manner that will turn every sin into a virtue. I will become a fragrant offering and a sweet-smelling sacrifice to You. I will bear this willingly because of My love for You and Your love for Me and Our mutual love for Our creation.”
It was not an accident that Jesus came to the Earth and gave Himself to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2). When He was with the Father before creation He knew what would happen, and what He would be asked to do. He knew. Although He, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, He knew the time would come when He would be called upon to empty Himself, and take upon the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are. And being in every way like a human being, He was humbler yet, even to accepting death, a death suffered cruelly upon a cross (Philippians 2:6-8). And still He did not succumb to sin, although He was tempted in all manner of temptations as we are, yet He committed no sin (Hebrews 4:15). And so God saw the idea with His Son being intimately involved in it, and He was ready to let the idea happen. All He had to do was utter the word. All He had to do was say the word and there would be a universe. He had to just speak the word and there would be myriads of stars, countless planets, and billions of galaxies stretching across trillions of miles of space. All God had to do was say the word and there would be Earth and there would be land and water and animals of all kinds. All He had to do was say the word and there would be man. And God was ready. And He said the Word and the Word God said was: Jesus. And it all happened because of God's love.
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